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Gracia Morales Ortiz

Personal information

Surname: Morales Ortiz First name: Gracia Born: 1973, Granada, Spain

Biography

Gracia Morales is an award-winning playwright, actress and poet. In 2000 she was the first woman to be awarded the prestigious Marqués de Bradomín prize for her play Quince peldaños (15 Steps). That same year, Morales co-founded the Remiendo Teatro theatre company, which has subsequently staged a number of her works. As well as writing plays, Morales regularly participates in workshops and talks about theatre. She has also taught courses on Latin American literature and theatre, following on from her PhD on this subject. Many of Morales’ plays have been performed more frequently in Latin American than in Spain. In December 2011, Morales was awarded the 2012 SGAE Prize for Theatre for Children and Young Adults for her play De aventuras.

Morales’ work explores themes such as the persistence of memory; she often merges the past and present on stage to highlight the relationships between the living and the dead. One of the most central themes of her work is the abuse of power, whether this be in extraordinary situations like torture, or simply the everyday abuses between individuals. Women are important characters in her dramas, with the action frequently revolving around them.

Style

Gracia Morales’ plays often merge the everyday world and fantasy. The ordinary and the extraordinary occupy the same spaces on stage. In a number of works, people living in the present interact with ghosts from the past, such as in NN12 and A paso lento. Her plays are, in the main, serious rather than comical as they deal with tragic and dark aspects of life.